The type of coins available for this program is the Presidential $1 coins and the Native American $1 coins. From the time of the order, it will take 2 weeks for the coins to arrive. They will arrive in boxes containing 25 rolls of coins.

Because of abuse of the program, special restrictions have been placed on the purchase of the coins with credit cards. There were reports that individuals were making purchases of $10,000 of the $1 coins to receive bonus air miles and bonus points on their credit cards, and then depositing the coins in the bank when they arrived. To prevent this, the charges on the credit card will now be considered a cash advance and no bonus points or miles will be rewarded.

This program is to promote the use of the $1 coins and for them to be placed in circulation where the general public can use them.  This is the reason the US government is paying for the postage. The hope is that the use of this coin in vending machines, retail transactions, and mass transit exchanges will become common and used by more people.

If you do not intend to place the coins in circulation, then you are discouraged from placing an order in the US Mint Direct Ship Program for the $1 coin. These coins are not intended for coin collecting purposes.

For additional resources on coins, please see America the Beautiful Proof Sets. This site and all of its contributors strive to bring you the most accurate information available. If you have any comments to help us improve our site, please leave them. Thank you for visiting.

In response from the many Americans with interest in silver and silver mining, the US Mint stated producing silver certificates in 1878 and continued to do so until 1964. These certificates were redeemable for their face value in silver coins. In 1934 congress passed a law that permitted the silver certificate to be exchange for either silver coins or silver bullion. Once a certificate was redeemed for its silver value it had to be destroyed, because of the lack of silver being produced and received by the US Treasury Department.

By the 1960’s the worth of these silver certificates rose to $1.29 because of the increased value of silver. Americans started to turn in their silver certificates for silver bullion which in turn depleted the US reserve of silver. In March of 1964, the exchange of silver certificates to silver coins was ceased and in June of 1968 all redemption of silver for a silver certificate came to an end.

Today there are still silver certificates in $1, $2, $5, and $10 denominations in circulation, but most are snagged up by collectors when seen. The main difference in these notes are that the seal on the right side of the note is in blue and the bottom of the note are the words “in silver payable to the bearer by demand” also at the top is the words Silver Certificate rather than the standard Federal Reserve Note.

For many whom are into coin collecting, a Dollar Silver Certificate is still considered a part of their coin collection due to its uniqueness and rarity. But that has not helped to increase their value which at today’s auctions is still only $2.

For those of you that are into coin collecting a few facts should be made known. The US Mint strikes its silver coins from 99.9% pure silver bullion. The Franklin Mint uses sterling silver. This sterling silver is only 92.5% pure silver. The remainder is generally made up of copper, but other alloys have been known to be used including germanium, zinc and platinum. The minimum millesimal fineness of sterling silver should be 925.

When making a purchase of a US mint coin from the Franklin Mint, collectors might wish to check prices so they do not over pay. As an example the 2010 silver eagle from the US Mint is being offered at $25.95. This same coin from the Franklin Mint is $75, but comes in a nice wooden box and a certificate of authenticity.

The Franklin Mint does have a great selection and is a place where coin collectors can find coins that are already sold out by the US Mint, but they should not be the first choice for those coins still in production.

There are a few sites that specialize in the reselling of Franklin Mint Coins, but the price is dependent upon the demand. One fact is for sure, these coins are of a high quality workmanship.

As most golden panda coin followers know, the depiction of the pandas on the coin change every year. This year is the 28^th design and there are two pandas playing and rolling around.

These coins are a legal tender in China and are worth more than the gold from which they are produced. With the price of an ounce of gold presently over $1,100 an ounce, these coins are expensive for coin collecting. That has not diminished their popularity, though.

The current specifications of the one ounce coins are 31.103 grams with a diameter of 32.05 mm and a thickness of 2.70 mm. The gold content is guaranteed by the Chinese government to be 1 troy ounce.

The planned minting amounts of the panda coins for the year 2010 are as follows:

200 of the 1 kilo, 1000 of the 5 ounce, 300,000 of the 1 ounce, 120,000 of the ½ ounce, 120,000 of the ¼ ounce, 120,000 of the 1/10^th ounce, and 120,000 of the 1/20^th ounce.

For those that love the 2010 Gold Panda Coins, look around before you make your purchase. There are sites selling them for $1995 while others as low as $1395.

Not only are the fundamentals of detecting a counterfeit coin discussed but also how to spot altered and cast counterfeit coins. One of the easiest ways to detect a counterfeit coin is either by a size difference or weight. The weight is how many of the newly minted counterfeit Morgan Silver dollars are being exposed. The metal used is from a different source that the Nevada load. This does make a difference. Small imperfections like this are described in detail to help not only the novice but experienced coin collector with spotting a fake.

The grading sections of this book are considered second to none when it comes to a third party grading system. The terms of wear on circulated coins and of Mint uncirculated proofs are explained. Categories covered are familiar marks, luster, the strike, die cast marks are all covered. Knowing that eye appeal is important but so are the little details that can make the difference in value of any particular coin.

This book covers coins that were minted in America from the ½ cent denomination, all the way up to and including the America Double Eagles. This includes the newly finished state quarter series.

The descriptions set out in their guild cover 416 pages with accompanying pictures to help any coin collector improve their knowledge of this art. No coin collecting library would be complete with it.

Consider The “Official Guide to Coin Grading and Counterfeit Detection” by PCGS as an investment in your collection.

There was a contest and Herman A. McNeil’s design was chosen. This was a depiction of Lady Liberty holding a shield in one hand and an olive branch in the other. Her garment was of a flowing gown. This is where the controversy came in. Henry was thinking the conservative Victorian era was over so his original designed had the right breast exposed. There are many nudes in the art world that are accepted, but not on a coin from the country that was becoming a world power. The outrage was so fierce that by mid 1917, the right breast was covered with a chain mail.

This coin was minted from 1916 to 1930 with three different variations. The first was the controversial bare breasted Lady Liberty from 1916 to mid 1917. The second type was from 1917 to 1924. Not only was her right breast covered but three stars were added below the eagle on the tail side of the coin. The third type of coin in this Standing Liberty Quarter Guide is the same as the second type with the date recessed. These were minted from 1925 to the end of this coins minting in 1930.

For coin collecting purposes, no Standing Liberty Quarter Guide would be complete without the mentioning of the rare 1918 coin that had some 8 over 7 repunched for the date.

If you are looking to just increase the number of Morgan Silver Dollars you have for your coin collecting hobby, there are place like the American Gold Exchange that sell the Morgan Silver Dollars by the rolls. When purchasing 1 to 9 rolls the price is at $699 each. These are advertised as having a grade of Brilliant uncirculated. The dates are the choice of the American gold Exchange and the rolls size is for 20 coins. That is almost $35 each. That has been the going price for a used Morgan Silver Dollar for many years, so this is not a bad buy.

If you are looking for more valuable and rarer Morgan Silver Dollars, then check out the Northwest Territorial Mint. This company sells not only the Morgan but also the Peace Silver Dollars. They have bags of 1000 for $16,929, 500 for $8,712, 250 for $4481 and 100 coins for $1,843.

The advertisement makes the claim that all of the coins in the bag are of VG grade or higher. The pricing on these coins is not determined by the current value of the silver market or the silver that these coins contain. The price is determined by the rarity of the coins in the bags themselves.

The best price for bulk Morgan Silver Dollars I found are at the APMEX. They have the coins broken into the quality of each coin. For a bag of 100 extra fine the price is $1999 or $19.99 each. This is a better bargain that the previous two places since you actually know the grade you are purchasing and the price is lower.

But shop around for the best Silver Morgan Dollar prices.

Coin Worlds Coin Values

Coin Values Coin Price Guide

Coin Values Magazine revolves around its coin price guide.  The Coin Values Coin Price Guide has been published since 1960 under its original name of Coin World Trends of U.S. Coins.  Since 2003, Coin World Trends of U.S. Coins was renamed as Coin World’s Coin Values coin price guide.  The coin prices for this guide are gathered from actual coin purchases from public auctions, fixed price lists and other research done by the Coin Values researchers.  If you subscribe to Coin Values Magazine, you can access the www.coinvaluesonline.com database of coin prices that are updated weekly.  This is a great benefit for subscribing to Coin Values.

Favorite Coin Values Columns

While the Coin Values Price Guide is the primary feature of this coin collecting magazine, I really love some of the monthly columns in Coin World’s Coin Values. If I wanted to purchase just a coin price guide, I would just purchase the Coin Dealer’s Newsletter, otherwise referred to as the Greysheet.  But, the monthly coin articles in Coin Values, certainly are worth the low subscription price.

My favorite column is the First Grade column.  This column teaches you how to grade coins.  Each month Coin Values picks a type of coin and walks through in great depth how to grade the coin series.  My most recent Coin Values featured the Capped Bust Half Dollar.  Michael Fahey walks you through exactly how to grade these Capped Bust Half Dollars.  Beginning coin collectors and advanced coin collectors will each learn new things about grading coins from this column.

My second favorite column is the What’s Hot – What’s Not column.  This column provides awesome insights into the coin market.  The coin market is very volatile and each coin series goes in and out of favor with coin collectors all the time.  In the April 2009 column, Mark Ferguson analyzed Lincoln cents prices.  2009 is expected to bring a large number of coin collector attention to the Lincoln cents series.  This increased attention is expected to bring higher Lincoln cent prices.  The What’ Hot – What’s Not column helps you to keep up with these coin collecting trends.

My third favorite Coin Values column is the Sleepers column.  The Sleepers column highlights coins that are underperforming.  These underperforming coins could represent good values.  These coins are like the value stocks for value stock investors.  In the April 2009 Sleeper coins article, Coin Values highlights the Prood 2-cent coins.  These proof 2-cent coins are very reasonably priced for coins over 150 years old.  Most of these proof 2 cent coins can be pruchased for around $600 in PF-64.  Not too many proof coins from the 19th Century can be purchased at these prices.

Do you subscribe to Coin Values Magazine?  Do you buy it in stores off the shelf?  If so, please tell us why you like Coin World’s Coin Value magazine.  If you don’t subscribe, I highly encourage you to use the following link to subscribe – Coin Values Magazine.  In addition to helping out this site, you will be able to purchase Coin Values Magazine at a price of only $2.50 an issue.

Grading Coins by Photographs

For anyone wanting to learn how to grade coins, I don’t think that there is a better book on the market than this one.  Whether you are completely new to coin grading or are already an experienced coin grader, I think that you will like this book.  It serves not only as a tutorial but also as a reference guide that you can use any time you are grading coins.

While this review will point out many great things about this book, I don’t want you to think that I am not going to point out the book’s short comings. When I buy a book, I always have certain hopes for what the book will discuss. And, unfortunately, Q. David Bowers did not meet all of my expectations.  But, despite not meeting all of my expectations, Grading Coins by Photographs is an excellent book that should be a part of any coin collector’s library.

Overview Review of Grading Coins by Photographs

This book is broken into seven chapters with the seventh chapter being the heart and soul of the book.  As is common with most coin collecting books, the first six chapters give an overview of the history of coin collecting and coin grading basics.  The seven chapters are:

1.  Importance of Grading

2.  History of Grading

3.  Expert Techniques in Grading

4.  Understanding the Surfaces of Coins

5.  Smart Grading and Buying

6.  How to Use This Book

7.  Grading U.S. Coins

Forward by David M. Sundman

One of my favorite parts of this coin collecting book is the forward by David M. Sundman.  Sundman is one of the owners of Littleton Coin Company.  Most coin collectors have heard of Littleton Coins.  This coin store advertises in every coin collecting magazine.  Often Littleton Coins is criticized as being overpriced, but most coin collectors acknowledge that Littleton Coins sells great quality coins that are accurately graded.

It was nice to read in the forward about how Sundman began collecting coins.  I also highly recommend reading the forward because Sundman outlines why coin dealers must accurately grade their coins.  If you are interested in becoming a coin dealer, I think this is a must read.

Chapter One – The Importance of Grading

Chapter one provides a good primer on why coin grading is an important skill to learn.  First and foremost, Bowers stresses that coin values are determined by two things – scarcity and quality.  If you don’t want to have to only buy certified coins, you have to learn how to grade coins.  Otherwise, you will never know whether you are paying too much.

This is the reason why I bought this book.  In my journey to become a numismatist, the fun for me is looking at coins, grading them myself, and feeling proud of the collection I have put together.  I don’t want to have to rely on coin grading services to tell me if a coin is of high quality.  I want the freedom to be able to buy none slabbed coins and know that I have not overpaid.

Chapter Two – History of Grading

This chapter walks coin collectors through how coin grading has changed throughout the centuries.  It explains how the 70 point grading system eventually became the standards and the rise of coin grading services, like ANACS, PCGS and NGC.  For those into history, I think you will enjoy this chapter.

Chapter Three – Expert Techniques in Grading

This was one of my favorite sections of the book.  Bowers explains how to get started learning coin grading.  He explains that you should focus on learning to grade one coin series at a time.  I think that this is very important.  You have to look at a lot of coins in order to understand why one coin is graded an MS-65 and another is graded an MS-64.  If you jump around from one coin series to another you will miss the subtleties in the grading.

One of the best pieces of advice given by Bowers in this book is that beginning coin collectors should take advantage of the Internet when learning to grade coins.   Before the Internet, the only way to see lots of coins was to visit a coin shop or go to a coin show.  With the Internet, there are tons of online coin auction websites that provide pictures of certified coins.  Bowers recommends that you look at these photos and examine why the coin grading service assigned the grade that it did.  I think that this is excellent advice.

Chapter Four – Understanding The Surfaces of Coins

This is one of the most technical chapters of Grading Coins By Photographs.  In this chapter, Bowers explains the metals used in making coins, how those metals react over time to the environment and the things people do to preserve coins.  Bowers also does a great job explaining dipped coins and cleaned coins and what to watch out for.

Chapter Five – Smart Grading and Buying

Chapter 5 provides a good overview on how smart coin grading will help you to buy great coins and make money collecting coins.  In this chapter, Q. David Bowers explains how coin collectors can use expert grading to make sure that they are buying coins on the high end rather than the low end of a particular grade.  For instance, Bowers stresses that while two coins may be graded MS-65, one coin could be greatly superior to another.  It might have full details, better luster, or just generally better eye appeal.  This is what I am hoping to learn from coin grading.  I want to be able to assemble the best coin collections for the grade that I can afford.  I am not going to be able to afford MS-65 coins in all coin series.  But, I can make sure that I am buying the best coins for the grades that I can afford.

Chapter Six – How To Use This Book

In this chapter, Bowers provides his thoughts on the best way to use Grading Coins by Photographs.  I don’t really have much else to say here.  It is the set-up for the main chapter of the book.

Chapter Seven – Grading U.S. Coins

As I have mention before, chapter seven is the reason to buy this book.  In this chapter, Bowers provides tips on how to grade every U.S. coin type.  He discusses the history of each coin type, the striking and sharpness characteristics of each coin type, and pictures of that coin in uncirculated condition through the circulated grades.

The pictures of the coins for each grade are outstanding.  The photos that Bowers has used do a great job of showing how a VG-8 coin looks compared to a G-4 coin.  The photos are great tools when looking online to determine whether coins are accurately graded.

In addition to the great photos, Bowers’ explanation of what to look for in each coin grade is outstanding.  For example, Bowers explains where to look on each coin type to determine sharpness, strike and wear.  I love these explanations because it tells me where to look on a coin for details and wear on those key points.

Why I liked Grading Coins By Photographs

For anyone who wants to learn how to grade coins, I think that this is the best book I have read.  The photographs are excellent tools to help you visualize the differences between grades.  My positives are:

• great coin photographs
• best study guide for how to grade coins
• interesting to learn what Bowers looks for when grading coins and determining whether to buy a coin

My Criticisms of the Book

While I think that this is the best book ever written on coin grading, I believe that Bowers could have done more to help beginning coin collectors learn how to grade coins.  Here are the books negatives:

• Bowers does not adequately show how to grade Mint State coins.  For the circulated coin grades, Bowers shows pictures of each major circulated coin grade.  But for the Mint State grades, Bowers does not show a picture of each grade.  When collecting U.S. coins, many coins are only seriously collected in Mint State conditions.  I don’t understand why Bowers would not provide better tips and photos for grading Mint State coins.  This is a huge negative of the book!!
• Bowers could have written more about how to grade each coin type.  It seems like Chapters One through Chapter Six are kind of filler in the book.  I wish that Bowers would have focused more on the exact grading tips instead.  For instance, Bowers could have provided checklists for each coin type for how to grade it.  He could have discussed in depth what to look for in certain key dates of any series.
• I wish that Bowers explained how to grade coins when all you have to look at are photographs online.  Many coin collectors today buy coins online.  It seems that Bowers could have provided some tips on how to determine whether an online coin photo is accurately depicting the coin.  This would coin collectors tremendously.

Summary Review of Grading Coins By Photographs

While I have listed several serious shortcomings of the book, I still believe that this is the best coin grading book.  Before this book, most people recommended Photograde: Official Photographic Grading Guide for United States Coins, 19th Edition. I believe that Bowers’ book has bested Photograde.  If not for any other reason than, Grading Coins by Photographs provides color photographs of coins.

If you want to learn how to grade coins, or if you want a resource to help you to quickly visualize the coin grades, I highly recommend this book.  You should read more about this book at Amazon here – Grading Coins by Photographs.  Amazon also has a great review of this book.

The topic that is being discussed the most right now be numismatists is the new United State Mint pricing rules for the US Mint gold coins and platinum coins.  Here are some great articles discussing this new coin pricing policy -

• US Mint Gold Coin Price List
• Pricing Strategy Article by Coin Collecting News
• U.S. Mint Discloses UHR Saint-Gaudens Price and Announces New Pricing Policy
• US Mint Issues Press Release on New Pricing Strategy

The United States Mint has started to sell native american dollar coin rolls.  World Numismatic News has a good article about the Native American Dollar Rolls.  Are you looking forward to these new native american coins?

There is an exciting new coin collecting website launched this week by Michael Zielinski.  Many of you know Michael from his Mint News Blog.  Now he has launched Clickcoins.com.  Click coins is a great homepage for any coin collector.  It lists the latest coin collecting news and coin collecting articles from the best coin collecting sites on the Internet.  I am happy that Coinblogger has been listed on Michael’s site.  I encourage you all to check it out.